Why Cate Blanchett's Hela returns to threaten Asgard in Thor: Ragnarok

We can't wait to see Cate Blanchett kick some ass as Thor: Ragnarok's villain.

Now we're sorry to say we've already guessed most of the plot thanks to Marvel's spoilerific trailers, but one thing we didn't know is how Hela enters the picture in the first place.

Producer Brad Winderbaum revealed to ComicBook.com that – as we had suspected – it is Loki's act of secretly usurping his stepfather Odin that brings about the Asgardian death goddess's return.

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"[When] we left Loki [in Thor: The Dark World], he kind of achieved his goals, he became the king of Asgard, and he is ruling that place," he said. "And what we come to learn, what Thor comes to learn early on, is that there's a lot of terrible things in the cosmos that just shouldn't be that way. And we learn that Odin was doing far more than it seemed on the surface to keep the universe safe.

"There were all these threats that he had quelled or was keeping at bay, using his strength and power to do so, that Loki was completely unprepared for. So he becomes the king of Asgard, everything is great, it's a good party. But he failed to realise the threats that were just over the horizon, Hela being the biggest and most terrible one of all."

Odin might be an obnoxious old windbag (and strong contender for worst father of the millennium), but he obviously was doing some things right. Maybe it's the stress that made him so cranky.

                                 

Part of Ragnarok's plot involves Thor teaming up with Benedict Cumberbatch's Doctor Strange in order to find the missing Odin.

Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson, Tom Hiddleston, Anthony Hopkins, Mark Ruffalo, Jeff Goldblum and Karl Urban also star in director Taika Waititi's movie.

Thor: Ragnarok will be released on October 24 in the UK and November 3 in the US